"(not an intelligence agency obviously)" this guy for sure works for an intelligence agency 🤔

"Lets use something by Lada Gaga this time!"

Baby shark...

@@patrickkenyon2326😂 that would be great. Or tubular bells (think I got that tune right, from the exorcist movie).

@@trulythedudeDon’t believe anything until it’s been officially denied. 😉

A proper spy would always have those items to hand.

If that's not a "Pinky and the Brain" reference, it should be.

Lewis!!!!??? we're great concerns regarding your latest ""agent""?!. If he can't even figure out doing the shopping?! by simply going to a 24 hour shopping mall???!! how in gods name is he going to carry out the "actual" spy mission???!!! . 🕵🏽‍♂️🙄🤣

@@paulsengupta971 exactly.. next he'll be telling his operator Lewis that he's not got a jet pack a flame thrower, at hand.. in his wardrobe !?

@@grahamfisher5436 who the hell jus has a 24 hour shopping mall lmfaoo malls here in the us close at like 8pm😂

Can you tell us any more? 😍 I'm so enamored with these.

@@barbieblues7639 Not much, Dad died in 1972 and that's all I know regards numbers stations.

Tonight's the first time I've seen an explanation of number stations, but I have some hobbyist insight into radio and cryptography. 📻🔒 To my knowledge passive radio receivers are virtually impossible to detect in use, and broadcasting over public airwaves allows operatives to receive communications using consumer radios bought locally, which would be much less suspicious (Except, perhaps, in the DDR or USSR) than being found with a concealed, fixed-frequency receiver - Noting a one-time pad or code-book is much easier to conceal than a radio. 📔 Where an operative was detected, it was likely someone frequently listening to numeric transmissions was overheard and reported to the authorities rather than the receiver itself being detected. 👮 Broadcasting over public airspace - With the pre-existing knowledge that anybody anywhere can receive that transmission without you ever finding that out - Also forces agencies to adopt the position that they're transmitting to the entire world, which means anything transmitted would be assumed to have been received and recorded by the enemy as well. Because of this all transmissions would be engineered to be entirely meaningless to any observer - Only authorised persons have any codebooks, and know the (memorised) procedures for decryption - And this would assure near definite security of the message despite the world and his brother having obtained the cyphertext. 😇

@@dieseldragon6756 You should make some content! That's really helpful.

@@Matt-hc1fi That's awesome! Glad to hear that it helped! ❤☺ I _used_ to create content years ago (Mostly between 2008-2010 on a long-lost account) but I was getting forever shot-down by the _Copyright Sharks_ and it really put me off. 😢 Nowadays KZfaq has a number of excellent resources ( _Copyright School_ especially 👍) and content panels to help creators avoid the pitfalls - And to assess harmful claims made by _Ambulance Chasers_ in a neutral and impartial fashion - But what they're *not* doing is extending this back to those of us who've been abused by that sort of industrial malpractice in the past. 😑

Believed to be sung by a group of highly inebriated agents of Stasi. Possibly celebrating the impending end of the Cold War.

That's more than many of them got. Most of them had to find out they were out of a job AND a country by CNN. So many chose to let their assumed identity become their only identity. I mean, why the hell not? All they had to go back to was chaos & poverty.

It’s just a signature for the intended audience to be able to identify. I would use this 😉 kzfaq.info/get/bejne/iauInaagr6rGh6c.html

That one intrigued me. As a musician I can hear more than just the melody. I can also hear additional harmony frequencies too. Probably part of its purpose.

I listened to these 'messages' many years ago picking them up on my shortwave radio - it was fascinating and a bit scary!

True. That padding was known as "Dummy" traffic and its purpose is exactly as you say. I have copied tons of it when I worked as an intercept operator for Big Brother (US).

Cool.

I remember running shortwaves up & down the dial as a kid. Got to hear a lot of number stations across the world being the equivalent of a touring USO brat. Some were downright creepy as hell. Intentionally so, i suspect.

SPY!

Est-ce que tu en entends encore?

"Any error whatsoever"? I think not. You can garble the encoding, and it's just as secure. You just need to guarantee that the codebooks are NEVER compromised, the numbers are TRULY random, and that NO page is used more than once.

@@cdorcey1735 Cues 10 hour mathematical debate on whether true randomness as distinct from pseudo randomness, is possible.

The German Vernam cipher methods were not cracked. Their "random" letter generator was cracked. They used mechanical wheels that output values that were difficult to predict, but still repeated. In essence, it was somewhere between a Caesar cipher and a Vernam cipher. They assumed the complexity of the system was sufficient, and didn't Any cipher can be cracked, given enough intercepted signals and poor random number generation. Even modern 256-bit encoding can be "cracked" if the number pairs are poorly generated. That doesn't mean that 256-bit encryption is considered "breakable".

@@musicalneptunian Modern pseudo random number generation done properly is quite secure. The key here being "done properly". An experienced programmer with a good understanding of mathematics could definitely develop a pseudo random number generator that by all accounts would be random. Don't get me wrong, I understand the argument of the mathematics behind it and most average programmers would not be capable of developing such systems, but there are definitely novel ways in which is can be done but usually requires a lot of computing power and a method of generator seeds that have absolutely no pattern or reason. Obviously a PRNG is gonna ultimately have some algorithm behind it, but if you can constantly be shifting that with seeds that are generated by systems that also randomly shift the seeds with THOSE systems ALSO being generated with shifting seeds from a strong source of randomness you will ultimately hit a final product that is nearly impossible to break. But again like I said, an average programmer is not gonna have the capability to do this consistently or probably at all. Most PRNG fails because the programmer made human errors, but an agency with highly experienced and highly smart programmers and mathematicians could absolutely develop a system that would be unbreakable. Also, there's more to it then number generators. You need to always have changing methods of handling the cypher text. You would also want each agent to have their own path to deciphering the code. This way, if one is compromised, the rest cannot be. Which of course requires a large amount of resources to be able to manage such a feat. Sorry just couldn't resist to bite. It's just that most random number generation fails because of the human factor, not the computing factor. There's plenty of ways to get good random seeds that will always be unique without predictability, but using that seed effectively is the hard part, but spread that out many times over with multiple times in a row and you start getting some pretty strong results.

@@24680kong "...Any cipher can be cracked, given enough intercepted signals..." So true!

Same. My parents also had a Grundig Majestic console. I'd sit by that radio for hours tuning in shortwave stations as a child. I was mesmerized by the magic eye tuning indicator. Sadly, I sold it for $20 two weeks ago. It had (literally) rotted away in my parent's basement. A tube scrounger offered the cash and I took it.

@@nfalister2732 shoulda kept it

How about a cat meow too?

me too--i literally listen to true crime podcasts to go to bed, but I can't listen to numbers stations in broad daylight without freaking out

I found them with a 1940 tube radio. It was a pleasant surprise

How does one get into this hobby?

@Jim Warden I bought a sorta pocket sized shortwave radio from RadioShack back in 1988 for $79 and heard the numbers stations the first nite I turned it on.

Me too!!! I really wish I had one of these radios and could listen in...

I think it's so fascinating because it's not a conspiracy theory, but a very real spy technology that we're technically seeing out in the open

We know for sure that it is being used by the Queen, who is still secretly alive

There are some great sw radios that aren't very expensive. I bought a Tecsun PL330 for 100€ a couple of days ago, I've watched a ton of videos on it and you should be able to listen to all sorts of interesting stuff being transmitted. I'll get it in the mail tomorrow, cant wait to start my shortwave journey

@@assistanttrailerparksuperv6839 also heard that she is actually David Icke

Latvia is known for Mikrotik. Great routers by the way. But unfortunately I can't think of anything else.

@@joaopedroalbernaz Riga Tower?

@@anthonysibley1021 now I know Latvia for two things. Very beautiful the pictures I saw on Google. Going to read more about it. Thanks

Latvia is famous the World over for being the country who's spelling is closest to Labia 😂.

Latvia is know as being a rouge part of poland

Mathematically impossible _if_ the pads really are only used once. (See also: Project VENONA)

Thank you - it was a shame when I moved house and lost the website - it took a long time to write it. 🙂

@@simonmason8582 My goodness, I didn’t expect a reply from the man himself! I can’t praise your work highly enough, it’s because of you and the old “Attention! 1, 2, 3…” segment in Short Wave Magazine I was finally able to understand what the hell was going on. I’m amazed your name doesn’t crop up more often in comments on this subject. Anyway, thanks again.

Simon! I’d love to chat with you if possible? Ringwaymanchester@mail.com

@@numberstation Many thanks for your kind words and well done with the fantastic channel!

@@RingwayManchester I'll be in touch soon to arrange a phone call at your convenience. 🙂

The good old days when we knew who the enemy was... now the enemy seems to be within.

@@ohioplayer-bl9emThe enemy was always within. 😉

This thread. Chills.

Yes it was "olga" the female voice who had been absent for some time. The forum was discussing her absence one day and apparently a user with a Russian IP address commented that she'd been sick. The next day she broadcast something to indicate that she was aware of their curiosity about her absence.

@@loganstroganoff1284 Yes, it was this one. Much obliged.

@@loganstroganoff1284 Do you have a link for this?

Any idea if this event was recorded and is available to listen to?

but accessing one of those stations online using a commercial network in the country hosting the receiver could attract attention. The spys could be so deeply embedded in a false ID the sender wouldn't want to risk leaving this evidence trail

My gf has just started listening to greatest hits radio and they do seem to play the same songs over and over again, perhaps you're onto something! Svetlana is a wonderful woman, I met her on tinder when i moved here to Cheltenham to start my new job - she's the most supportive gf I've ever had, it's refreshing to have someone who's genuinely interested in my work- a very geeky field.

That was totally a thing, sometimes SSB+carrier as well. Audible on a normal radio.

@@fungo6631 sure, *nowadays* many shifted to pure SSB. But they did AM way into the times when SSB was the norm for utility voice transmissions. And they used full or reduced carrier even later for compatibility. There clearly has been an objective to allow for receiving equipment as unsuspicious as possible. Also keep in mind that spooks aren't necessarily tech nerds - tuning a SSB signal using a late 80s/early 90s "world band receiver" with a BFO isn't trivial.

@@thes764 do you mean the SSB that can be used on CB transceivers?

Right???!

I'll second that, there must be a lot of time put into research, hours of time dedicated to the task. 😎 👁 I remember picking some of them up on an old radio my parents had. It had so many bands on it, there was not a lot it couldn't listen into, but it weighed a ton. Reception was improved when a long wire aerial was added to it. As well as the tuner that was attached to the dial movement (as it were) there was also a box with two knobs sat on top of the radio, reception could be improved a lot with turning these knobs. I assume it was some sort of aerial tuner. At that time, I had no idea what these stations were, but it piqued my interest in radio back then. I did hear the Lincolnshire Poacher a few times. It was good fun finding them, when I found a German station my mother sat and repeated the numbers. That old radio was good fun, but the heat that used to come out of it was amazing, it was an old valve (tube) radio, make unknown to me. It had a speaker that plugged into it at the rear. If I remember, it had a battery that had to be charged up every year or so, depending on use. It was an old, heavy radio that crackled a lot, but it served us well. It had a far better sound than anything around these days when listening to normal radio.

@@BoB4jjjjs My father had a SW radio back in the 60s, and it too weighted at least 50 lbs. Lugging that thing around must have built some serious muscle. 😁

Thank you so so much Paul!

Wow Paul just checked and thank you again so much. That’s so kind of you!!

Why is your profile picture the Boeing logo?

@@NotADoctor558 Why is that your concern?

I rely on AA batteries for my radio-based lifestyle. I’m so obsessed about NiMh batteries that I charge them and line them up on a row on my nightstand like bullets

It's harder to find out the exact location of the broadcast. With Internet, someone can always find out where a message is coming from.

You can hide coded messages in innocent looking websites or websites that are regularly accessed by people that are not spies and access this websites from open Wi-Fi access points with spoofed MAC address not to mention there is also Tor ( onion routing) which was invented for hiding both starting point and end point.

@@xminusone1 while finding the location of the transmitter can be difficult, it's not impossible. But that's not nearly as important as knowing the location of the receiver. A numbers station transmitting in Cuba could be listened to by someone in Washington DC, or someone in Venezuela. With internet communication, even if the message is secure it's possible to find out who it's going to, and that can tell you a ton.

also - the use of a one time pad makes it impossible to decipher.

@@fungo6631 yeah but the location of the receiver is the important part especially if you’re in unfriendly territory

How far away from Iriringi are you? Plenty of 'keeni meeni' from what used to the RNAZ Wireless Station visible from the Desert Road on way to National Army Museum.

@@g7vak We were living in Royal Oak, Auckland at the time. But it was absolutely FM and pretty sure UHF.

I agree with you, it’s fascinating. I close my eyes and let my imagination run wild. As to the pictures he admitted that at the start.

So does each Pad have a date and time? Because if it only does time but still open to a frequency analysis attack since there is only 24 hours in a day, or they could do 10 minute intervals for 144 for combinations which at up to 24 hours if my head math is correct.

@@definty the pads aren't necessarily marked for a particular date or time. once you've used it, you discard the pad and use another one

@@voncheeseburger ahhh so you have to maintain the correct pad for each transmittion and the receiver side? Does this mean if one side missed a call they have to get rid of the pad? This explains how they can track the calls cycles. I wonder if you can break the past pads by looking through old news/intelligence/civil/geo political/spy news sources and try to peice together what pads could of meant. With LLMs out now the cost of going over all the sources above could reduce the cost of searching over the sources above. But I suppose the nature of the pad changing each message makes this impossible. I wonder what algorithm they use to create these random printed pads, I wonder if there are any old complete pad booklets online from the 50s/60s? I wonder what algorithm they assumed was secure back then be interesting to know if it's still considered random.

@@definty Yes, if a message was missed, they had to have a strategy to 'resynchronise' with a new pad. typically something like "if we haven't heard from you in 4 hours, skip to the next pad". If used correctly, a one time pad is *completely* unbreakable. its key is known only to 2 parties and once destroyed, can't be recovered. to the eavesdropper, the ciphertext appears to be complete noise, and they can't use any fragment of a key to do partial decryption or anything. They have been used since the 19th century and were especially well used during WW1. the algorithms were pretty simple to generate the keys IIRC. you can look up an ephemeral encryption method for more info. its the modern equivalent that uses public key cryptography to encrpyt a key which can be used to perform symettric key crypto, and at the end of the message all the keys are discarded.

X to doubt

If I was 13 old teen back in 1985, I would build my own computer, modem and call to BBS in Fidonet (arrived in 1984) 😅

I used to love listening late at night to SW too, but I don't remember numbers stations. Instead I listened to Radio Moscow, Radio Prague, Radio Vilnius, Radio Stockholm - which I could also get on MW sometimes, even remember tuning in to it on the car radio while waiting for my Dad who was in the bank - and I think the Voice of America and Voice of Japan.

I am a pilot. There are NDB's (non-direction beacon). These are simple cheap navigation beacons used in aviation. The aircraft are equipped with ADF receivers. They are still around, but I think are being slowly taken down. The beacons sent a morse code identifier constantly. For example, there is one near me in Akron, Ohio with the identifier AK (.- -.-) broadcast every few seconds on a continuous loop. I am not sure this is what you heard. In the US they are (were) on low frequency. AK is 362 Kz. That does not really fit what you described.

@@ianbutler1983 As a youngster I would scan the LF band and sometimes found a new beacon. The local airport tower had it's number listed in the phone book and I would phone them to find out where my new signal was coming from. I'm not sure how high in frequency the beacons go, but a lot of old AM receivers actually tuned down to around 500kHz, well below the dial markings.

Here in Minnesota there was a NDB station, a non-directional navigation beacon, on 262 Kilohertz. The car radios of the 1950's and 60's had an intermediate frequency of 262 KHz, pure coincidence. If the car radio had marginal antenna filtering, or if you took off its bottom cover, in this area you'd hear a faint morse code identification. 24/7. Those low-frequency beacons are 90 year old technology and have many drawbacks, like no good in rain or in snow static, and a pain to home in on, and GPS is so much more reliable and accurate, so NDB's are slowly being phased out

@@georgegonzalez2476 The FAA moves slowly with these things. GPS is indeed far better but so far isn't allowed for primary instrument navigation although some (many?) GA pilots are using it that way. Personally I think they don't like GPS because they don't control it. No government agency likes losing their power.